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“Free Trade” is Destroying America, Making Us Uncompetitive

March 23, 2014George Barlow

We have been forced to live on imports and debt, incapable of producing enough for ourselves, and are at the mercy of other nations. It has taken less than two decades for us to decline from superpower status to our weak and unproductive state due to “free trade.”

Some people try to claim Americans just have to be willing to work for less, but we will never fix these problems by working for the low wages necessary for us to compete under “free trade.” Workers in many of our competitor nations toil in factories for $2 to $4 per hour. To work for those wage rates in the United States would be ridiculous. Many couldn’t even cover the cost of getting to work on that income, let alone feeding their families.

We have seen that our “free trade” policies have left our country in shambles, yet our politicians continue to push new agreements on us, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). How many disasters like this will it take before our politicians stop destroying this country with these disastrous agreements? How long until people realize more of our political leaders are working for their campaign contributors who fund their elections other than for the voters who elect them?

Our government has become shockingly ineffective. In other countries when things get this bad they hold a vote of no confidence. We have no such recourse here. Our electoral system is supposed to act to get bad politicians out of our government, but in actuality it ensures we will only get politicians who are loyal to the lobbies and big donors and not to their electorate.

The people don’t want these foolish “free trade” agreements, but lobbyists do. These lobbyists who work for multinational corporations, Super PACs and other monied interests are the ones that control the agenda in Washington DC and determine our laws. These interests spend selectively on candidates to ensure those who will do their bidding are the ones who stay in office.

This system is not working. It needs to be completely overhauled so that Washington represents the American people once again. If something isn’t done immediately, it will be the end of America as we know it.